A big fan of the game of baseball itself, who just happens to have no favorite team.

The 2014 Major League Baseball Gold Glove award winners were announced Tuesday night on ESPN2. Given out each year to the players that are judged to have exhibited superior individual fielding performances at each fielding position in both the National League and the American League, the award is voted on by the managers and coaches in each league (managers can not vote for their own players), with sabermetrics now making up around 25 percent of the vote.

Marking the 57th annual Gold Glove Awards, which began back in 1957, there have been some terrific players to receive the honor. However, no other player has won more Gold Gloves in their career or in a row than Greg Maddux, who took home 18 and 13, respectively.

While Maddux’s records seem fairly safe for now, there were some winners for 2014 who could win quite a few Gold Gloves as the years go on. Here’s a recap of the winners, with my thoughts on each:

CATCHER

AL Nominees - Alex Avila, Yan Gomes and Salvador Perez

AL Winner - Salvador Perez (2nd career)

NL Nominees - Jonathan Lucroy, Russell Martin and Yadier Molina

NL Winner - Yadier Molina (7th career)

Picking up his second straight career Gold Glove award, Salvador Perez was by far the best catcher in all of the American League in 2014. On the National League side of things, Yadier Molina takes home his seventh straight Gold Glove award. One of the best at controlling a pitching staff in all of baseball, it’s no surprise that Molina won yet again.

PITCHER

AL Nominees - Mark Buehrle, Felix Hernandez and Dallas Keuchel

AL Winner - Dallas Keuchel (1st career)

NL Nominees - Zack Greinke, Clayton Kershaw and Adam Wainwright

NL Winner - Zack Greinke (1st career)

Although Mark Buehrle has won his fair share of Gold Glove awards, this season the award went to Dallas Keuchel. Having a great season with the Astros, Keuchel isn’t that well known around baseball, but he’s one of the best defenders on the mound. Zack Greinke, surprisingly, picks up just his first career Gold Glove award for the National League, after years of great performances on the mound.

LEFT FIELDER

AL Nominees - Michael Brantley, Yoenis Cespedes and Alex Gordon

AL Winner - Alex Gordon (4th career)

NL Nominees - Starling Marte, Justin Upton and Christian Yelich

NL Winner - Christian Yelich (1st career)

Alex Gordon ended up taking home his fourth straight Gold Glove award. Always very consistent as a defender in left field, Gordon isn’t at all a shocking winner of the award. Christian Yelich on the other hand did come as somewhat of a surprise. But even so, he’s still deserving, becoming the first Marlins outfielder to ever pick up a Gold Glove.

CENTER FIELDER

AL Nominees - Jackie Bradley Jr., Adam Eaton and Adam Jones

AL Winner - Adam Jones (4th career)

NL Nominees - Billy Hamilton, Juan Lagares and Denard Span

NL Winner - Juan Lagares (1st career)

Adam Jones has established himself as one of the best outfielders in baseball today, and he extended his argument by picking up his fourth career Gold Glove award — his third straight. On the NL half of the Center Field Gold Glove awards, Juan Lagares ended up receiving the award. While he’s not well known as of yet, he could easily pick up several more Gold Gloves in his career.

RIGHT FIELDER

AL Nominees - Kole Calhoun, Kevin Kiermaier and Nick Markakis

AL Winner - Nick Markakis (2nd career)

NL Nominees - Jason Heyward, Gerardo Parra and Giancarlo Stanton

NL Winner - Jason Heyward (2nd career)

Nick Markakis of the American League and Jason Heyward of the National League each picked up their second career Gold Glove awards on Tuesday night for their terrific defense in the outfield. Despite the fact that Heyward and Markakis are two very different types of players, they were undeniably the most deserving right fielders of the 2014 season.

FIRST BASE

AL Nominees - Miguel Cabrera, Eric Hosmer and Albert Pujols

AL Winner - Eric Hosmer (2nd career)

NL Nominees - Adrian Gonzalez, Adam LaRoche and Justin Morneau

NL Winner - Adrian Gonzalez (4th career)

All of the nominees for first base have their ups and downs defensively, but Eric Hosmer winning the Gold Glove this season is the best choice, in my opinion. His second straight Gold Glove, Hosmer showed signs of breaking out into a superstar in 2014. Also picking up his multiple Gold Glove award was Adrian Gonzalez, who hadn’t won one since 2011.

SECOND BASE

AL Nominees - Robinson Cano, Ian Kinsler and Dustin Pedroia

AL Winner - Dustin Pedroia (4th career)

NL Nominees - DJ LeMahieu, Brandon Phillips and Chase Utley

NL Winner - DJ LeMahieu (1st career)

Dustin Pedroia is widely known as one of the best second baseman in baseball, and he was recognized for it this season. Winning his fourth career Gold Glove award and second in a row, Pedroia could easily pick up another Gold Glove or two before the end of his career. As could DJ LeMahieu, who isn’t well known in the baseball world, but received the first of what could be several Gold Glove awards.

SHORTSTOP

AL Nominees -Alcides Escobar, J.J. Hardy and Alexei Ramirez

AL Winner – J.J. Hardy (3rd career)

NL Nominees -Zack Cozart, Adeiny Hechavaria and Andrelton Simmons

NL Winner -Andrelton Simmons (2nd career)

J.J. Hardy receives his third straight Gold Glove award for American League shortstop. Known for his slick defense he shows off seemingly every night, Hardy is quietly one of the best fielding shortstops in baseball today. But many would argue that the best defensive shortstop at the moment has to be Andrelton Simmons, who won his second career Gold Glove on Tuesday and could be winning them for years to come.

THIRD BASE

AL Nominees -Josh Donaldson, Adrian Beltre and Kyle Seager

AL Winner – Kyle Seager (1st career)

NL Nominees -Nolan Arenado, Pablo Sandoval and Juan Uribe

NL Winner -Nolan Arenado (2nd career)

Kyle Seager picked up his first career Gold Glove award while Nolan Arenado received his second in a row. Both are terrific fielding third baseman, and both are early on in their careers. It is very likely that Seager and Arenado could continue to get better and better, picking up multiple Gold Glove awards in the process.

2014 GOLD GLOVE AWARDS FAST FACTS

There were six first-time Gold Glove winners.

The Royals and Orioles had the most Gold Glove winners, with three each.

There were nine Gold Glove winners who also won a Gold Glove in 2013.

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Also announced last night were the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) award finalists for 2014 Rookie of the Year, Cy Young and Most Valuable Player. For the most part, I agree with the finalists, but there are a few I’m surprised about.

Here are the finalists, with who I have winning (click their names to find out why):

As stated in a previous blog post, I plan on posting a recap of each winner, along with a look at how well I did with my predictions, in a blog entry after each award is officially announced. So be sure to check back for that at some point next week.

The 2014 Major League Baseball Players’ Choice Award winners were announced last night on MLB Network. Unlike the BBWAA awards, these awards, as the name would suggest, are voted on by players from around baseball each September, when they receive a ballot to make their picks for each category. Six categories in all, American League players vote for American League players with National League players voting for National League players, with the exception of the Marvin Miller Man of the Year award and the Player of the Year award, in which players from both leagues vote for a single player.

The winning player for each category is awarded a grant from the MLB Players Trust, ranging from 20,000 to 50,000 dollars, depending on the award that they win. The money goes to the winner’s choice of charity, with some players deciding to split up the money between multiple causes. This marks the 22nd annual Players Choice Awards, which began in 1992. Here’s a recap of the winners, with my thoughts on each:

OUTSTANDING ROOKIE AWARD ($20,000)

AL Nominees – Jose Abreu, Matt Shoemaker and Danny Santana

AL Winner -Jose Abreu

NL Nominees – Billy Hamilton, Jacob deGrom and David Peralta

NL Winner – Jacob deGrom

Although I feel that Dellin Betances should’ve been one of the American League nominees for Outstanding Rookie after the great season he had, I can’t argue at all with the winner. Jose Abreu had an unbelievable inaugural season, hitting 36 homers with the White Sox, and will likely be a big part of their future in the many years to come. On the National League side of the award, it came down to Billy Hamilton and Jacob deGrom for me. But although it was a close call, Hamilton hitting around .250 earns deGrom the award.

OUTSTANDING PITCHER AWARD ($20,000)

AL Nominees – Felix Hernandez, Corey Kluber and Chris Sale

AL Winner -Felix Hernandez

NL Nominees – Johnny Cueto, Clayton Kershaw and Adam Wainwright

NL Winner -Clayton Kershaw

All three American League nominees had incredible seasons worthy of recognition, but Felix Hernandez had the best statistical season of them all. Posting a career high 15 wins and a career low 2.14 ERA, Hernandez was the obvious choice. As was Clayton Kershaw. Taking home the Outstanding Pitcher award for the National League, Kershaw had a historic season with a miniscule 1.77 ERA, and there was no way that he wasn’t going to win this award.

COMEBACK PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD ($20,000)

AL Nominees -J.D. Martinez, Victor Martinez and Chris Young

AL Winner -Chris Young

NL Nominees -Tim Hudson, Casey McGehee and Edinson Volquez

NL Winner -Casey McGehee

Obviously the one award that a player least wants to receive, meaning that they bounced back from years of injuries or poor performance. (But the important aspect, I suppose, is that the player did in fact bounce back.) Winning the Comeback Player of the Year award for the American League was Chris Young (the pitcher, not the outfielder) along with Casey McGehee for the National League. Both players had tremendous 2014 campaigns, coming off recent struggles on both their parts.

OUTSTANDING PLAYER AWARD ($20,000)

AL Nominees -Mike Trout, Jose Altuve and Victor Martinez

AL Winner -Mike Trout

NL Nominees -Josh Harrison, Clayton Kershaw and Giancarlo Stanton

NL Winner -Giancarlo Stanton

Seemingly getting better and better each year, with plans to get even better in 2015, Mike Trout was the players’ choice for Outstanding American League player of the year. Scoring over 100 runs for the third straight season, and breaking the 30 homer mark for the first time in his young career, Trout could be taking this award home for many years. For the National League, Giancarlo Stanton received the honor. Despite an injury which cut his season short, players agreed that Stanton, with his incredible display of power, is the rightful winner.

MARVIN MILLER MAN OF THE YEAR AWARD ($50,000)

Nominees -Clayton Kershaw, Adam LaRoche and Anthony Rizzo

Winner -Clayton Kershaw

The Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award is given each year to the player most recognized for outstanding on-field performance and off-field contributions to his community. Past winners include Mark McGwire, Albert Pujols, Chipper Jones and Mariano Rivera, among many others. This year, the award went to Clayton Kershaw, whose ‘Kershaw’s Challenge’ looks “to encourage people to use whatever God-given passion or talent they have to make a difference and give back to people in need”. Combine Kershaw’s community contributions with his 2014 stats, and he definitely is the top choice for the prestigious award.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD ($50,000)

Nominees -Clayton Kershaw, Giancarlo Stanton and Mike Trout

Winner – Clayton Kershaw

Taking home his third award of the night, and bringing the total amount of money donated by the MLB Players Trust to $120,000, Clayton Kershaw takes dominance of award winning to a new level. Going 21-3 with a 1.77 ERA over the course of the season, Kershaw likely is just getting started. With the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) awards being given out next week, it’s almost certain that Kershaw will take home the National League Cy Young award — with many putting him in line to win the NL MVP as well.

Around a month ago I blogged about the through the mail (TTM) autograph requests I was planning to send off to players during the Arizona Fall League. At the end of the post I stated that I was going to be publishing a blog post every time I received back a few autographs, and now that I’ve successfully gotten back some of the requests I sent, I figured I’d go ahead and type this entry up. Of the seven total TTM’s I sent off, I’ve received three of them back, with them being from:

DANIEL ROBERTSON — ATHLETICS’ ORGANIZATION

Daniel Robertson is the number one prospect in the Athletics’ organization, and the number eighty-five prospect in all of baseball. At just 20 years old, Robertson still has plenty of time to develop into the future big league star that many feel he’s destined to become, but he made great strides towards that in 2014. Batting .310 with 15 home runs and 60 RBI’s on the year, Robertson will be a big part of the A’s future.

JACE PETERSON — PADRES’ ORGANIZATION

Jace Peterson (who, unfortunately, signed this card in ink pen) is no longer a top prospect for the Padres, however, he is expected to be a big part of their team moving forward. Going back and forth between the majors and Triple-A this season, Peterson’s bat didn’t stick in the big leagues, batting just .113 in 53 at-bats, but his glove and speed should allow him to stick with the Padres starting in 2015 while his bat catches up.

LANCE PARRISH — FORMER MLB ALL-STAR

No longer playing, Lance Parrish is currently the manager for the Glendale Desert Dogs. The former first round draft pick and eight-time MLB All-Star, Parrish blasted 324 home runs and recorded a couple hundred hits shy of 2,000 for his career. Winning six career silver slugger awards, and picking up two gold gloves, Parrish may not be an all time great, but he was a solid player in his day.

I still have autograph requests out for Hunter Renfroe, Byron Buxton, Trevor Story and Brandon Nimmo. When/if I get any of those back I’ll be sure to post another update. Although there’s no guarantee I’ll get any more back at all.

Heading into game six of the 2014 World Series, I was fairly confident that my prediction of the Giants winning it all in six games was nearly a sure bet. Coming off of a strong, shutout start by Madison Bumgarner in game five to take a 3-2 series lead, I figured the Giants would have the momentum to take the championship in the first game back in Kansas City. But I was wrong — very wrong.

Game six turned out to be a blowout by the Royals, as by the second inning the game was basically over. Jake Peavy, the starting pitcher for the Giants, allowed five hits in the inning, including an RBI-double to Mike Moustakas and an RBI-single to Nori Aoki before he was removed from the game for the recently unhittable Yusmeiro Petit.

But even Petit isn’t perfect, as he allowed a two-run single to the first batter he faced, Lorenzo Cain, followed by a two-run double to Eric Hosmer and a Billy Butler RBI-double. When the dust finally settled, the Royals had scored seven runs in the inning, and every Royals’ starter, with the exception of Omar Infante (he would get a single in the next inning), had at least one hit.

Royals’ starter, Yordano Ventura, fared much better than the pitchers on the Giants’ side of the game. Going seven innings and giving up only three hits while allowing zero runs to a good Giants’ lineup, Ventura was simply remarkable. Leaving the game with a 9-0 lead over the Royals, it’s evident that the Royals have a potential superstar on their hands for years to come.

Up nine runs going into the bottom of the seventh inning, Mike Moustakas took the score to an even 10-0, blasting a solo shot to right field. Coming off of Giants’ reliever, Hunter Strickland — the sixth home run allowed by Strickland in the postseason, a playoff record — Moustakas provided the first home run of the series since game two of the Fall Classic, and would be the final run scored of the game, which became the fifth game out of the series decided by five or more runs.

Taking game six with ease, the Royals forced a World Series game seven for the first time since 2011 — just the 37th World Series game seven in history. With the home team having won the Fall Classic in the past nine game sevens dating back to 1982, including the Royals’ last World Series win in 1985, you had to wonder if history would come through for the Royals or if the Giants terrific elimination game record would prevail.

With game seven of the World Series being a win or go home game for both teams, both starting pitchers — Tim Hudson for the Giants and Jeremy Guthrie for the Royals, who was fantastic in his last outing — were subsequently on very short leashes. (Meaning, should they struggle early they wouldn’t be allowed to continue for very long.) However, both looked fairly sharp to begin the game, posting a scoreless first inning.

But the second inning brought problems for both pitchers. Guthrie gave up a couple of runs via two sacrifice flies that scored the given runner from third, but, surprisingly, he was allowed to continue. Hudson, though, after allowing a couple runs of his own, was replaced after just 1.2 innings pitched — the shortest game seven outing of a World Series game since 1960.

Guthrie pitched a good third inning but allowed a leadoff single to Pablo Sandoval in the fourth (Sandoval went 3-3 on the night, bringing his hit total for this World Series up to a staggering 12), followed by a Hunter Pence single and a flyout that allowed Sandoval to advance to third. Showing signs of struggle, Guthrie was quickly replaced by Kelvin Herrera who immediately gave up a single to Michael Morse, scoring Sandoval from third, and giving the Giants a 3-2 lead. Neither team would find a way to put anything together after that.

On just two days rest, Madison Bumgarner, who threw a complete game shutout in game five, came on in the bottom of the fifth — his first relief appearance since the 2010 National League Championship Series. It was originally thought that if Bumgarner was brought on in relief, it would be for a couple of innings. But Bumgarner was so dominant that he remained in through the final out of the game, surpassing the old MLB postseason record of 48.2 innings pitched and lowering his World Series career ERA down to a measly 0.25.

While the Royals threw out their heart of the order in the bottom of the ninth, with Alex Gordon technically singling but winding up at third on a couple of outfield bobbling errors, they didn’t have a comeback in them. Salvador Perez, although he put up a battle against Bumgarner, stranded Gordon at third, popping out to third baseman Pablo Sandoval, and securing the Giants the 2014 World Series Championship.

The third World Series title for the San Francisco Giants in the past five year, and their eighth overall in franchise history, the Giants were fairly impressive over the course of the seven games it took to decide a winner, despite outscoring the Royals overall just 30-27. But they would be nowhere without their dominant lefty, Madison Bumgarner, who received the Most Valuable Player award for his dominant pitching during the Fall Classic.

With game seven now decided, thus concludes another exciting Major League Baseball season. But hang in there. There are only 158 days until Opening Day 2015.

As I wrote in my last blog post, there was a chance coming into San Francisco that either the Giants or the Royals could win the World Series, should they be able to sweep the other team in the three games. But thanks to a sole win by the Royals, the series is forced back to Kansas City with the Giants up three games to two.

But a lot took place to get to this point.

After a couple of blowout games in game one and game two of the World Series, game three was a lot more competitive. Jeremy Guthrie received the start for the Royals, and despite the fact that he hasn’t been overly dominant this season, he was terrific in this game. His opposition, Tim Hudson, was fantastic as well, as although he allowed a run in the very first inning via a Lorenzo Cain RBI-groundout, Hudson settled down and posted zeroes for the following four innings.

When the sixth inning arrived, both teams found their strokes, with the Royals and Giants each scoring a couple of runs off of a few timely hits in their respective half inning to take the score up to 3-2 in favor of the Royals. With their bullpen set to go for the rest of the game, the Royals were able to hang onto that one run lead, with Greg Holland closing out the game.

Up two games to one heading into game four, the Giants would now have to win at least one of the two games remaining in San Francisco to keep their chances alive and send the Fall Classic back to Kauffman Stadium.

Game four began the way the Giants envisioned, with them scoring a run in the bottom of the first off of the Royals’ starter, Jason Vargas. But the Royals would answer back in a huge way in the top of the third, when a 30-minute inning saw four runs posted by Kansas City. Although the Giants scored a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning, the overall momentum of the game seemed to be on the Royals’ side.

However, the momentum shifted in the fifth inning, when the Giants scored a couple of runs to tie the game at four runs apiece on a Hunter Pence RBI-single. From there, they would never look back. Scoring three runs in the bottom of the sixth and another four runs in the bottom of the seventh — nine total runs over the course of three innings — the Giants quickly put the game out of reach for the Royals. Both the Giants and Royals would post zeroes for the remainder of the game, ending with a decisive 11-4 win for the Giants.

Now that the series was tied at two games per team, there was guaranteed to be at least one game back in Kansas City. But with the winner of game five moving to within just one win of a World Series title, with two chances to secure that win, you knew Sunday’s game was going to be a close, extremely important matchup.

A rematch of game one’s starters — James Shields for the Royals and Madison Bumgarner for the Giants — everyone expected Shields to rebound from the poor outing he had in game one, and looked to Bumgarner to see if he could continue his postseason masterfulness. Both turned out to be great.

Allowing just two runs in his outing, Shields put the Royals in a good position to win the game. However, Bumgarner had other plans. Giving the Giants nine solid innings, Bumgarner threw a complete game shutout against the Royals, lowering his career World Series ERA down to 0.29 — the lowest in MLB history. Although the two runs the Giants posted early in the game (one in the second and one in the fourth) would’ve been enough for the victory, they were able to put another three runs on the board in the eighth inning for good measure, securing the 5-0 victory.

With not a single home run being hit over the course of the trio of games in San Francisco, this becomes the first world series since 1948 to have three straight games without a dinger. With 25 total runs being scored over the three game set at AT&T park, that’s truly hard to believe.

The Giants and Royals travel back to Kansas City following game five, where they will pick up with game six on Tuesday night. With the Giants just one win away from their third World Title in five seasons, it will be interesting to see how each team plays, knowing game six could be it.

The way this World Series has been going, almost anything can happen. Returning to their electric home ballpark, I wouldn’t be too surprised if the Royals pulled out a game six win to send the World Series to a seventh game. But with the Giants firing on all cylinders as of late, things look promising for my prediction of the Giants winning the World Series in six games coming true.

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On a brief, unrelated side note, tragedy struck baseball on Sunday evening.

Cardinals’ up-and-coming mega prospect, Oscar Taveras, was killed, along with his girlfriend, in a car accident down in the Dominican Republic on Sunday. Although his passing has nothing to do with the World Series, I wanted to take a minute to talk about Taveras.

I first heard of Oscar Taveras back in 2011, when he hit .386 over the course of 308 minor league at-bats. As I began to follow his career more closely, I quickly realized why he was held in such high regard, as he had a career season the following year, hitting .321 with 23 home runs and 94 RBI’s in 2012. Battling injuries in 2013, Taveras finally got things going again in 2014, making his Major League debut in May of this season. Living up to the hype, Teveras hit a home run in his very first game in the majors. But unfortunately, that was one of three home runs Taveras will ever have for his career.

Along with millions of others, I was filled with excitement back in May when Oscar Taveras made his MLB debut. I was filled with amazement when he hit a pinch hit home run in the National League Championship Series. And now, following the tragic death of the 22-year-old star, I’m filled with sadness. Gone too soon — Oscar Taveras will be missed. Talent like his doesn’t come along very often.

Going against preseason predictions and beating all the odds just to make it into the postseason, the Royals and Giants seemingly breezed their way through their given division series and championship series rounds on their way to the World Series. So evenly matched, as teams with a great pitching staff, lineup and bullpen, you had to figure that this year’s Fall Classic was going to be a great one. And, as I predicted, it surely has been exciting so far.

In game one on Tuesday night in Kansas City, Madison Bumgarner of the Giants took on the Royals and their best pitcher James Shields. For the Royals’ fan base, this game was something that they haven’t been able to experience in a long time, with the Royals last having made the postseason in 1985. But unfortunately for them, things didn’t start off too well, with three runs being scored in the very first inning by the Giants, off a Pablo Sandoval RBI-double and a Hunter Pence two-run home run.

From there, things simply got worse for the Royals. The Giants scored yet again in the fourth and the seventh, plating a couple of runs each inning, to take the score up to 7-0. With Madison Bumgarner on the mound, the Royals faced an impossible climb to reclaim the game, as despite a solo home run from Salvador Perez in the seventh, that would be the only run Bumgarner allowed, giving up just a total of three hits.

With the Giants taking the decisive 7-1 game one victory, you began to wonder whether or not this was going to be as competitive of a World Series as it had been advertised to be. But all thoughts of that were erased in game two, as things were much more thrilling for the better part of the game.

However, things didn’t start off looking too good for the Royals once again. The first batter of the game, Gregor Blanco, blasted a solo home run off the Royals’ flamethrowing Yordano Ventura, who became the first rookie to start a World Series game for the Royals in their history. From there, though, the Royals answered back, scoring a run in both the first and second innings off of the Giants’ Jake Peavy.

The Giants would tie the game in the top of the fourth inning, before the wheels came off in the sixth. Jake Peavy, who had been fairly good through this point in the game, was lifted after allowing the first two batters of the inning to reach base. His replacement, Jean Machi, allowed an RBI-single before being lifted for Javier Lopez, who recorded one out before he was replaced by Hunter Strickland. That would turn out to be a big mistake.

Strickland, who hasn’t done much of anything in the postseason for the Giants, gave up a two-run double to Salvador Perez, followed by a two-run homer by Omar Infante — the fifth home run Strickland has allowed this postseason, tying the postseason record.

Jeremy Affeldt would come on following Strickland’s removal, finishing out the inning without any more runs, but over the course of the 32 minute inning, the damage had been done. The Royals’ unbelievable bullpen subsequently shut down the game, securing them the 7-2 win.

The Royals and Giants now head to San Francisco tied at a game apiece. If either team can sweep the three games, which begin on Friday, the 2014 World Series Champion can potentially be crowned at AT&T park. But although baseball is unpredictable, it’s likely that the series will head back to Kansas City for game six and (possibly) seven in the final days of October.

After botching my preseason division predictions for the American League and National League, and after completely missing with my postseason predictions, I should probably just sit back and watch the World Series unfold before me without giving too much thought as to who will win. However, that’s hard for me to do. I love making predictions, no matter how terrible at it I may be.

Despite picking every single losing team to move on in the division series round (I had the Tigers beating the Orioles, the Angels beating the Royals, the Nationals beating the Giants, and the Dodgers beating the Cardinals), I’m going to take a shot at picking the World Series winner. After all, I have a 50/50 shot. Maybe I’ll get lucky.

As you’re more than likely aware, the Royals swept the Angels and Orioles to move onto the Fall Classic for the first time since 1985, while the Giants beat out the Nationals and Cardinals to head to their third World Series in five seasons. With both teams having begun the postseason as Wild Card teams, this becomes the first time since 2002 that two Wild Card teams made it to the World Series. And therefore, with both having beaten improbable odds, it’s very difficult to predict with certainty who will win the best of seven series. But I’m going to try.

The probable pitchers for games one through seven (five through seven if necessary*) of the 2014 World Series are as follows:

Game 1: Madison Bumgarner (Giants) – James Shields (Royals)

Game 2: Jake Peavy (Giants) – Yordano Ventura (Royals)

Game 3: Tim Hudson (Giants) – Jeremy Guthrie (Royals)

Game 4: Ryan Vogelsong (Giants) – Jason Vargas (Royals)

Game 5*: Madison Bumgarner (Giants) – James Shields (Royals)

Game 6*: Jake Peavy (Giants) – Yordano Ventura (Royals)

Game 7*: Tim Hudson (Giants) – Jeremy Guthrie (Royals)

Keep in mind that the Royals’ starting pitchers past game two are the presumed rotation, as they are yet to reveal their full pitching plans. In addition, plans could change, sending a switch around of the starting pitchers for either team, but this is the way things seem to be set to happen as of now. Based on the starting rotations and my observations of each team’s games so far this postseason, here’s how I have things playing out for the World Series:

My pick to win Game 1: Giants

Though the World Series is beginning in Kansas City, I have the Giants winning the first game. With Madison Bumgarner on the mound, the Royals’ offense is surely going to have a hard time scoring runs, and I feel that although James Shields is opposing the Giants, that the Giants will do just enough to pull out the victory. Thus ending the Royals perfect postseason winning record.

My pick to win Game 2: Royals

After losing game one, in my mind, the Royals will likely have a little added incentive to take game two, not wanting to head to San Francisco down two games to none. With Jake Peavy on the mound, who has struggled at times this year, I feel the Royals will score early in this game, having a lead heading into the late innings. With such a strong bullpen, they should be able to lock down game two.

My pick to win Game 3: Giants

With the first game in San Francisco being tied at a game apiece, the Giants and Royals will be fighting to take the advantage in game three. However, back in front of their home fans, and with veteran Tim Hudson on the mound, I think the Giants will just edge out the Royals. Though both Hudson and Jeremy Guthrie have had struggles in 2014, I feel Guthrie will struggle slightly more.

My pick to win Game 4: Royals

Bouncing back to take game four, the Royals have to win this game, in my mind, if they want to head back to Kansas City. With Bumgarner on the mound once again the following night, they’ll have to capitalize on the Giants’ starting pitcher, Ryan Vogelsong. And I believe they’ll do just that, tying things up at two games per club.

My pick to win Game 5*: Giants

On the mound once again for the Giants will be their ace, Madison Bumgarner, who I feel will be lights out as ever. The final game at home for the Giants in 2014, I feel they need to win this game to take the 3-2 lead if they want any shot at the World Series. If they return back to Kansas City down a game, they’ll have their backs against the wall for sure.

My pick to win Game 6*: Giants

Although back in front of the Royals’ home fans, which are some of the most electric in baseball, the momentum carried from a game five victory will likely be too much for the Royals to take on. After losing in game two of the series, in my mind, I don’t think Jake Peavy will allow that to happen again. If all goes as planned, the Giants will once again be crowned World Champions of baseball on October 28th in Kansas City.

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Before I begin my recap of my votes for the major MLB awards, I want to take a second to acknowledge both the Royals and the Giants on advancing to the 2014 World Series. Both teams were outstanding in their given league championship series, with the Royals sweeping and the Giants losing just once. And thus, it should make for a very entertaining World Series, which begins in Kansas City on Tuesday. But while I’m going to make some World Series predictions in my next blog post, this post is meant to focus solely on the major MLB awards.

Over the past week, or so, I’ve been typing up individual posts on who I feel most deserves the awards of American League and National League Rookie of the Year, Cy Young and Most Valuable Player.

Some of the choices were easy, while others took a great deal of debate. But in the end I went with my gut of who I feel deserves each award the most.

In case you missed a few (or all) of my Major League Baseball award posts, I wanted to do a brief recap. Here are my picks that I made for each category:

Feel free to click the links associated with each award to be taken to my post on it, giving the full reasoning behind my picks. I’m planning to post a blog entry covering the winners of each award when they’re announced towards the middle of next month, comparing my original picks to the winners and giving my overall thoughts, so be sure to check back for that.

As I stated in my American League post, choosing the Most Valuable Player from each league is the most difficult decision of all the major baseball awards handed out at the conclusion of each season. With Rookie of the Year and Cy Young you can look solely at which player had the best overall stats, but Most Valuable Player sometimes involves a bit more than just stats. While it’s important that an MVP winner had a great statistical year, the best offensive player doesn’t automatically become the most valuable.

With that said, it was an even more difficult vote for me this season than it has been in seasons past. There are several players, including Adrian Gonzalez, Andrew McCutchen, Giancarlo Stanton and Clayton Kershaw, who were all extremely valuable members of their given team in the National League. However, in the end, only one player can win the Most Valuable Player award.

Adrian Gonzalez is one of two Dodgers on my list, but he stands the least chance of the two to win the MVP award, and the least overall shot of all the players on my list. Although he led all of Major League Baseball in RBI’s on the season, with 116, while batting .276 and blasting 17 home runs, Gonzalez still doesn’t quite have the overall numbers to win the Most Valuable Player award. Even so, playing in all but three of the Dodgers’ 162 games, Gonzalez definitely had a great season worthy of recognition.

The current reigning N.L. Most Valuable Player, Andrew McCutchen, posted very similar numbers to the ones he posted in 2013. But although they are extremely close in likeness, McCutchen doesn’t deserved the MVP award this year anymore than I felt he deserved it last year when he won. Batting .314 on the season, with 25 homers and 83 RBI’s, McCutchen surely had a great season. But missing a good portion of the year, and getting outperformed by two other players in the National League, McCutchen will likely have to try again in 2015.

Giancarlo Stanton comes in runner up for the National League MVP award, in my mind. It was a difficult decision to not give him the honor, but finishing out the year on the disabled list, along with another player completely dominating everyone else in the N.L., caused him to just miss out. Still, Stanton posted the best numbers of his career thus far in 2014. Blasting 37 home runs and tallying 105 runs batted in, Stanton was by far one of the top valuable players in the National League, but not quite the most valuable.

For me, the correct choice, although it’s a difficult one — especially given the fact that he’s a pitcher — for the 2014 National League Most Valuable Player award is Clayton Kershaw, who I also have picking up the Cy Young award. Coming back from an injury to begin the year, which caused him to miss the first month of the season, and still winding up leading baseball in wins and ERA is simply remarkable. Notching 21 wins, along with a career best 1.77 ERA, which was nearly half a run better than the next closest ERA in the National League, Kershaw should pick up his first career Most Valuable Player award for his amazing performances all season long.

Choosing the Most Valuable Player from each league is the most difficult decision of all the major baseball awards handed out at the conclusion of each season. With Rookie of the Year and Cy Young you can look solely at which player had the best overall stats, but Most Valuable Player sometimes involves a bit more than just stats. While it’s important that an MVP winner had a great statistical year, the best offensive player doesn’t automatically become the most valuable.

With that said, it was an even more difficult vote for me this season than it has been in seasons past. There are several players, including Corey Kluber, Felix Hernandez, Victor Martinez, Nelson Cruz and Mike Trout, who were all extremely valuable members of their given team in the American League. However, in the end, only one player can win the Most Valuable Player award.

Corey Kluber and Felix Hernandez, while they were both terrific and extremely valuable parts of their team, can quickly be eliminated off the list for Most Valuable Player. Despite the fact that I have them finishing in the top two spots in Cy Young voting with their 2.44 and 2.14 ERA’s, respectively, they simply didn’t post historical stats that overtake the offensive numbers of an everyday position player in the American League. Therefore, while their teams would’ve definitely ended their seasons with much different records without them, neither one has the numbers for MVP.

On the other side of the coin, Victor Martinez posted some of the best numbers in all of the American League, and deserves to at least be in the MVP discussion. After breaking out and blasting 32 home runs and driving in 103 runs, Martinez certainly helped carry a Tigers team that held a lot of issues with their pitching staff, on this a year that Miguel Cabrera posted subpar numbers by his standard. Batting .335 on the season, second to only Jose Altuve in all of baseball, Martinez was one of the most well rounded players this season. Even so, he likely won’t end the year with MVP honors.

Nelson Cruz is one of the top options for American League MVP in my opinion, despite the fact that many people don’t see him as a top choice at all. Coming over to the Orioles in the offseason, and posting career highs in a number of categories, Cruz helped carry the Orioles to the postseason even at times when things weren’t looking too promising. Leading all of baseball in homers, with 40, and driving in over 100 runs for the first time in his career, Cruz had a fantastic season. But it wasn’t good enough to come out on top.

For me, the door has finally opened for Mike Trout to walk away with the 2014 American League Most Valuable Player award. Although his batting average was down from 2013, and his strikeouts were way up, Trout put together an MVP-caliber season to say the least. Along with scoring over 100 runs for the third straight season, Trout also blasted 36 home runs and recorded over 100 RBI’s (111) for the first time in his career. Everything together, after finishing runner up to Miguel Cabrera each of the past two years, the numbers Trout posted in 2014, combined with the down year by Cabrera, make things very likely that Trout will finally receive the Most Valuable Player award for his efforts.

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